Currently, as this is being posted, the Virginia General Assembly hasn't passed a budget which means a final decision on SOLs for secondary Social Studies courses hasn't been made, yet.

Before the GA ended this year, the final bill (SB 969) impacting SOL tests and authentic assessments would allow for EOC tests to be based off an authentic assessment. Originally, SB 969 specifically prohibited performance assessments, but then at the last minute, it was amended to allow for them.

But then the session ended without a budget. When the Senate came back in the last few weeks, the budget they were debating referred back to the original wording SB 969.

So in conjunction with the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium, we submitted the following letters to Virginia Senators in support of the amended SB 969 which allows for performance assessments:As members of the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium (VSSLC) and the Virginia Council on the Social Studies (VCSS), we urge you to amend budget item 130#1s as reflected below. The proposed language is essentially the current language adopted by the House Education Committee (SB 969) as proposed by the patron, Senator Newman. It was supported by the Board of Education, the Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS), and a number of education stakeholders. The current language of budget item 130#1s reflects the original language in SB969 prohibiting performance assessments rather than the language ultimately agreed to by the patron and all interested parties.

As a result of the Revised Standards of Accreditation, many school divisions across Virginia are under the impression that verified credit may be earned in the coming school year through locally developed, authentic performance assessments. Local budgets, time, and expertise are currently invested in the development of these assessments and the related professional learning for teachers. While the VSSLC accepts that a state-developed assessment may be a necessary compromise, it is worth noting that many public school teachers and leaders will be both surprised and disappointed by legislation that underestimates the benefits of local authentic performance assessments.

The proposed amendment below supports statewide accountability for social studies education at the high school level. However, it does so by supporting a more balanced approach which includes performance assessments and doesn't simply emphasize memorization at the expense of understanding and application. The shift towards utilizing performance assessments compels school divisions to more fully measure what students know, as well as what they can do with this information. We are confident that this change in assessment will improve social studies instruction, deepen student understanding, and sharpen critical thinking skills.

Below is the rest of the letter, which won't paste into this post nicely, so it's an image.

Public school teachers, librarians, and instructional coaches for grades 3-12 in Arlington, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Norfolk, Richmond, or Roanoke school districts are invited to apply. Allcosts of attending (travel, hotel, and meals) will be covered by Virginia Humanities, thanks to the support of the Kellogg Foundation.

Please note, the grant used to fund this is specific to these six divisions: Arlington, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Norfolk, Richmond, or Roanoke. However, divisions nearby (e.g., Chesterfield County) may be accepted.

Participants will work together to develop lesson plans, receive training in Google Expeditions and create history podcasts, among other things. As part of a larger grant-funded project (more details below), the goal of the Institute is to enable teachers to work with their students to connect local histories and personal stories and to tell broader narratives histories on race and place.

Learn to work with your students connecting local histories and personal stories & to tell broadernarratives on race and place.

To apply or ask questions: Please submit a statement of interest of up to 250 words and a letter of support from your principal or other school administrator, to Susan Perdue, Project Director, at TRHTVA@gmail.com by May 11, 2018.

The General Assembly is in action this year and with 5 active or retired teachers now serving. As for Social Studies, there are a few bills to pay attention regarding Social Studies

HB 652 has been rejected in committee, which would have allowed some Virginia school districts to use performance assessments for Civics. So as of now, it looks like Civics will still be an SOL test. However, HB 1278 was the same bill and it's still alive in committee.

HJ 117 also died, which could have made it harder for teachers to talk about controversial issues.

Finally, is SB 969 which is still moving through the General Assembly. It would mandate that one high school social studies course still be an SOL type test. Not a performance assessment.

Meet Michelle Cottrell Williams, Virginia’s 2018 Teacher of the Year! Michelle is the Social Studies Department Chair at Wakefield High School in Arlington County.​Growing up, Michelle never knew she wanted to become a teacher. She was good at school and loved learning, but the classroom did not call her. Michelle started college with plans to become an accountant like her father, but by the end of her freshman year, she realized this was the wrong path for her. She decided to switch her major to history, figuring that if she had to go to school for four years, she may as well study something she enjoyed. This change led her to a new university and allowed her to explore history, political science, and psychology to fascinating depths. As she neared graduation, all Michelle knew about her post-university path was that she wanted to do anything but teach. She figured she would work for a bit, then go into either politics or law. Her last semester, she received a pamphlet inviting her to learn more about teaching English overseas in Russia or China. She knew she wanted to travel before entering adulthood, and saw this as the perfect opportunity to see the world. Michelle applied to the program and was accepted to teach in Moscow, Russia for a semester. When she arrived in Moscow, she was assigned a small group of sixth grade students at a private performing arts school in the middle of the city.

During her time there, Michelle wound up learning far more about herself than she did about the country of Russia. She grew to truly love the children she worked with every day, which came as quite a surprise to her. While their antics and boundless energy often left her exhausted at the end of a long day, the students endeared themselves to her with their genuine interest in learning and their joy in living. They showed her how see the world through new eyes. When her semester abroad ended, Michelle moved back to the United States and relocated to Washington, D.C., staying true to her original plan to pursue a career in politics or law. In her first year in the region, she worked at a small, political think-tank and roomed with two law school students. Both experiences led her to once again question her plans. Neither path seemed appealing to her. Her roommates always seemed stressed and spoke at length about their fears of needing to “sell-out” to a big corporation in order to establish themselves as lawyers. Her own job often required that she work ten to twelve hours a day and provided her with little satisfaction. Michelle went through a bit of an existential crisis, trying to figure out her purpose in the world.

Her thoughts often returned to that small class of students in Russia. It was there that she felt like what she did each day actually meant something. It was clear to Michelle that she wanted to wake up every day and make a difference. She went all in, applied to graduate school, and spent the next 14 months preparing for a career she had spent the previous 24 years avoiding. Twelve years later, Michelle has never regretted that choice for even a second. As an educator, Michelle never stops trying to improve her practice. She believes that instructional excellence is a journey, rather than a destination. To that end, she focuses her professional development on the areas in which she feels she needs the most growth each year. Her professional development over the past five years has shifted from building content knowledge to developing the skills necessary to support struggling students. She is learning how to be a better teacher to students of color and English language learners, two groups traditionally under-served in the general education setting. But, she doesn’t stop at learning for the benefit of her own students and classroom.​She is an active participant and leader in her professional learning community and strives to promote a culture of professional inquiry in her school, the district, and across the state. She is always willing and enthusiastic to share the new practices, tools, and innovative approaches she learns about with other educators.

​For the past four years as the Social Studies Department Chair, she has worked to foster a community of cooperation among her colleagues. Michelle has an “open-door” policy and speaks often with colleagues who seek guidance on differentiating a lesson, want feedback on a classroom management strategy, or just need a sympathetic, listening ear. She aims to inspire them to strive for excellence in their own practice, allowing her influence to extend beyond her own classroom and positively impact the learning environments of other students in the school.​In her school and across the district, Michelle is often one of the first to volunteer to present at a conference or work on curriculum projects. She has served as a Cultural Competence facilitator in several Arlington schools, supporting teachers as they took on challenging conversations about race and culturally responsive teaching practices. She has presented workshops on developing a growth mindset, adapting one’s pedagogy to meet the needs of English language learners, supporting the instructional use of MacBooks in the 1:1 classroom, and creating problem-based learning activities in the social studies curriculum, to name a few. Michelle was also the lead member of her county’s curriculum development team tasked with identifying power standards and designing learning experiences for a new government course created for WIDA level 1 ESOL students, a course that is now being taught at all three comprehensive high schools and several alternative programs in the district.

Michelle seeks to extend her influence to the state and national level, as well. She frequently presents at state conferences, including the VCSS Annual Conference and at VDOE Professional Development events. She served as a trainer for the implementation of the new 2015 History SOL standards and will be providing more professional development with VDOE about locally verified assessments in the fall. This past spring, Michelle appeared as a guest on the podcast Ten Minute Teacher about the ways she uses vulnerability in the classroom to create a safe space for students. This five-day-a-week podcast has a global audience of educators, and her interview was featured as a Motivational Monday episode.

Michelle also willingly serves the profession. She has mentored four student teachers who have gone on to begin their own teaching careers. She also mentors new teachers across the district by giving support, answering questions, and helping them to navigate their first few months of teaching. She guides them through the range of emotions they experience as new teachers, providing honest and supportive feedback, while also encouraging them in their professional journeys.

As she continues in the profession, Michelle remains dedicated to nurturing her growth and development as an educator. She will continue to attend relevant professional development offerings, present at workshops, share what she learns with others, and take on leadership roles that nurture the growth of her professional community

Want to know more about Michelle? Check out the Podcast, follow her on Twitter, and attend her breakout session at the VCSS 2017 Conference:

Wesley Hedgepeth, past-VCSS President is running for the position of Secondary School Teacher for the NCSS Board.

​​The online election ballot will open on Monday, November 20, 2017 and close on January 15, 2018. NCSS members in good standing as of October 31, 2017 will receive instructions and credentials for accessing the online ballots.

Below is his NCSS Board Candidate Profile:

Wesley lives and breathes the social studies! Throughout his career in education, he has taught multiple social studies courses from grades 7-12, at all ability levels, in both public and private schools. He currently teaches IB Global Politics and Contemporary World History at Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond, Virginia.

In addition to teaching, Wesley coordinates his school’s Global Engagement Program, both planning and leading international exchanges. Additionally, he coordinates his school’s Model United Nations Program, preparing students for multiple conferences each year, as well as hosting an annual conference. He also serves as a member of both his school’s 5-year Strategic Planning and Technology Committees.

Outside of school, Wesley has represented Virginia in the NCSS House of Delegates since 2014 and currently serves on the NCSS HOD Assignments Committee. During his tenure as President of the Virginia Council for Social Studies, he co-chaired the 2016 NCSS Local Arrangements Committee for the Washington, D.C. conference, twice co-chaired the Virginia Conference for Social Studies Educators, and twice collaborated with the VCSS Executive Board the earn NCSS Gold-Star Council status. He regularly lobbies elected officials for social studies education, works on political campaigns supporting social studies advocates, presents at both statewide and national conferences, and consults for various social studies organizations.

Wesley currently serves on the Virginia Council for the Social Studies Executive Board as Past-President. He received both his Bachelor and Master's degrees from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia and maintains a Postgraduate Professional Teaching License from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Candidate Statement:We live in a society where compromise and moderation appear all but forgotten, where listening comes second to speaking, and where loyalty to one’s side outshines the greater good. Our opportunity is to infuse young people with sincerity and an appreciation of differences. Our world needs more civil discourse, and Social Studies Educators are the civility engineers. It is our task to model for our students the idea that civility and differences do and should coexist. Whether we are preparing our kids for college, career or civic life, we must continue to model this civility.

In recent years we have seen the growth in misinformation and a disregard for the truth. How do we ensure our fellow constituents are critical consumer of information? The devaluation of the truth is extremely damaging to our society. The creation of false information and bullying of truth-tellers is dangerous. We must not shy away from sensitive topics; rather, we must consistently address these issues head-on with thorough research and discussion. Students should understand the idea of loyal opposition.

We must continue to set high standards for conduct in our classrooms and create authentic experiences for our students. Sourcing, Corroboration, and Contextualization--these skills all transcend the social studies classroom. We must continue to demonstrate that viewpoints from multiple sides are not just inevitable, they are imperative in any democratic system. We must continue to teach students the value of truth, of compromise, and show that a diversity of viewpoints can combine wisdom and experience with creativity and ingenuity. We need to live this.

On Friday, November 3, the documentary An Outrage will be showing at the VCSSE Conference in Richmond, Virginia.

AN OUTRAGE is a documentary film about lynching in the American South. Filmed on-location at lynching sites in six states and bolstered by the memories and perspectives of descendants, community activists, and scholars, this unusual historical documentary seeks to educate even as it serves as a hub for action to remember and reflect upon a long-hidden past.

Steve McDonnell a 6th Grade US History 1 at J. Frank Hillyard Middle School in Broadway, Virginia shares some photos of his students' latest creation.

"My students built a southern tobacco plantation (circa 1776) this semester. It included slaves quarters with a vegetable garden and overseer's house, a manor house and tobacco field, a stable, warehouse, workshops, a river barge, and a dock. All the items on the plantation were made by the students with glue, tape, toothpicks, colored paper, and clay except for the pine trees and wooden barrels." - Steve McDonnell

Throughout my years as a teacher (and now as a student teacher supervisor), I am always on the prowl for amazing new websites. Some are for my own edification and others can almost provide an entire lesson plan. Here are some of my current URL loves:

Objectofhistory.orgThis Smithsonian powerhouse provides a curated and meaningful approach to teaching with objects -- whether through a gold nugget or a short handled hoe. The accompanying lesson plans are incredible and interactive.

https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/Students (and teachers) are intrigued by this site, which shows the swath of nuclear devastation based on geography and gradations of nuclear bombs. It is a spectacular tool when teaching about the Cold War and definitely an attention grabber.

Amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/Think teaching about wars can be dusty and date-ridden? This website includes videos, lesson plans, and first person accounts of all wars fought by the United States. Interactive collections and a riveting “history mystery” add to the allure.

Sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsallThis remains one of the best resources for finding primary sources on virtually any topic in history. Many are full length, so you may need to edit and curate depending on the age and ability of your students.

Worldhistorymatters.orgThis award winning website out of George Mason University is a fantastic resource for social history, especially for finding topical and fascinating information on women and children. Activities such as “Be the Historian” encourage historic inquiry and critical thinking.

​Having middle school students get excited about history can sometimes be a challenge but in Alissa Oginsky’s sixth grade American history classes at Holmes Middle School in Fairfax County, she has it well in hand. Alissa pulls together student inquiry with both digital and traditional tools to immerse her students in the past. Primary source analysis and simulations are an active part of class as well as incorporating VoiceThread, Thinglink, and Google forms.

She has blended the zoom-in structure for looking at primary sources with google forms. At each step of using the zoom-in, students’ thinking is checked and students work collaboratively in discussing the historical significance of the image.

​Alissa’s students take an active role through her use of simulations in the classroom. A recent interaction, was focused on colonial dissatisfaction – taxes. Students were assigned a role as a colonist, tax collector or British citizen in England. Through the use of stations to learn about various tax laws imposed by Great Britain, students had to pay up in the currency of M & Ms according to what the law was taxing. Students quickly took to heart why the colonists were so unhappy. Even to the point of creating protest signs as they ran out of M & Ms to pay their taxes and ended up in debtor’s prison!

Spotlight written by Kris Petersen, a VCSS Northern Virginia Area Representative

While this alliterative phrase may have been used 500 years ago by the likes of Columbus, Da Gama, and Pizarro, Mrs. Victoria Marcy is finding new ways to make them relevant in history class today. Marcy is currently a world history teacher at Grafton High School in York County. She is always deliberate in her attempt to incorporate unique and authentic learning experiences for her students. These projects have ranged from a mock trial of Brutus to gingerbread houses formed into historical landmarks to most recently an exploratory scavenger hunt through the school to bring back riches to impress the Queen.

Mrs. Marcy wanted to create a meaningful way for students to understand the motivations and the rewards of early European explorers as well as the monarchs who sent them. In this activity, groups of students were given 15 minutes to explore the school grounds and come back with trade goods that would impress the Queen and bring glory to the empire of World History I. Points were doled out in accordance to the determined value and converted to extra credit points. Students were rewarded for creativity, ingenuity, and loyalty. They had to get a pre-approved route to begin their journey and it was expected for them to convert fellow students to the splendor of history. Progress was recorded on a map and they had to complete a Captain’s Log of their journey.

At the end, students reveled in their glory and the bounty they brought to the empire. The highest glorious honors were reserved for those that brought back the best loot. Motivation and greater understanding of the explorers and their actions resulted from the students participating in this activity.

Written by: VCSS Area Rep Meridith Breen,US History Teacher at Yorktown Middle School